Blue Snow With New FZ30

[StanStan]

Received my new FZ30 and the sun is shining so I took some pics of snow of which I have a lot. Had 14" but some melted..

The pictures turned out very blue. Picture shown is taken in 'P' mode. The ones taken in 'Snow' scene are almost as blue. Very disappointed!!
Will have to play with white balance adjust. Then PP?

http://static.flickr.com/9/75586871_d905dd592c_o.jpg

[ktixx]

Your have an ID10t error which we have all had at one point :) :D , you probably didn't have your white balance set correctly. Set the white balance correctly and you can easily fix that blue contrast.
Good Luck
Ken

[genece]

Stan
lovelife complains about the blue tint and sets his camera to + 1 or more on the warm side. I do not see a blue cast, nor did I see a red cast on the FZ20 as some complain.

I asked Lovelife once if he thought it could be we use different filters and he said no but I am not so sure.

I will admit that at times and especially in a real bright situation such as your photo I see a blue cast thru the EVF but I meter again and the camera almost always corrects the WB or whatever cased the tint and the photo will turn out fine.

Maybe print the photo and see what the print looks like it could be a monitor problem ... I doubt it, but you never know.

[valleykayaker]

Hi, It appears that you have the exposure correct. One thing you should do is shoot in one of the nonprogram modes (Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, or Manual) as this will give you more flexibility in making your exposures. From what I have read, when exposing for snow, sunny beach sand, etc. you add one stop, because the camera meter tries to make it a neutral gray. In the case of the blue cast, setting your white balance to "cloudy" should compensate. If you use Photoshop, in the filter menu go to the "photo filter" and choose a yellow. If you happen to shoot in RAW when you open your photo in Camera Raw you can also set the white balance there and be able to fine tune it. I hope this helps. I also have a FZ30 which I am extremely happy with. :) :)

[StanStan]

Your have an ID10t error which we have all had at one point :) :D , you probably didn't have your white balance set correctly. Set the white balance correctly and you can easily fix that blue contrast.
Good Luck
Ken

I have had a FZ20 for one year and did not come across blue as shown in pic.
I set WB to Sun, Auto, Mode to Snow, WB adjust to .2 red, .6 red, 1.0 red,2.0 red. More pic adjustments???

Filled up 512 card with same subject. Yes some came out better but not 'real' as of yet.

BTW What is ID10t error? That is new to me.

FZ30 takes sharp pictures with a TCON17. Haven't tried the 14B.

Thanks for the response

Stan

[StanStan]

Hi, It appears that you have the exposure correct. One thing you should do is shoot in one of the nonprogram modes (Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, or Manual) as this will give you more flexibility in making your exposures. From what I have read, when exposing for snow, sunny beach sand, etc. you add one stop, because the camera meter tries to make it a neutral gray. In the case of the blue cast, setting your white balance to "cloudy" should compensate. If you use Photoshop, in the filter menu go to the "photo filter" and choose a yellow. If you happen to shoot in RAW when you open your photo in Camera Raw you can also set the white balance there and be able to fine tune it. I hope this helps. I also have a FZ30 which I am extremely happy with. :) :)

I usually do not shoot snow but that is what I have now. 'Like to take pics of birds'. Will try different modes. Have tried cloudy and various WB's to the red side. Shot in JPG and always use histogram. Have a lot of suggestions in this thread. Will try them all as I have the time. Haven't tried raw yet. Have PS Elements 2.

Thanks

Stan

[StanStan]

Stan
lovelife complains about the blue tint and sets his camera to + 1 or more on the warm side. I do not see a blue cast, nor did I see a red cast on the FZ20 as some complain. Have tried 2,1,.6,.2 on the warm Better but not "Real"

I asked Lovelife once if he thought it could be we use different filters and he said no but I am not so sure. Did not use any filter as my 55mm UV ring went with the 210 when I sold it.

I will admit that at times and especially in a real bright situation such as your photo I see a blue cast thru the EVF but I meter again and the camera almost always corrects the WB or whatever cased the tint and the photo will turn out fine. I have taken some 100 pics of the anti-deer-rabbit plant cage with different settings.

Maybe print the photo and see what the print looks like it could be a monitor problem ... I doubt it, but you never know. I reset my monitor using Kodak's Evaluation Target and got a little less blue. How blue is the pic on your monitor? I did print part of the pic, 2 inches, and was still blue. Ordered an iP5000 which I understand has been shipped.

Thanks Gene.

Stan

[emalvick]

I don't have the FZ30, but one thing I tend to do when I am having White balance problems is I set the manual white balance to the location that is having problems. Since snow is white (or gray in the shade), what happens if you set the white balance right onto the blue area?

I am guessing that perhaps it would remove too much blue from the image, but I would probably give it a try.

I find that snowy scenes are not the easiest to shoot. I have a heck of a time with the coloring with my FZ15. In my case it isn't consistently blue, but it does seem to be white balance related. The best shots always come out when there is a nice deep blue sky in the picture. I find a polarizer helps me out sometimes too by cutting some glare (when that is a factor).

Erik

[genece]

Its not very blue on my monitor Stan it does have a tint but , I could probably live with it.
Stan someone else said about the blue tint and said they used a skylight filter to correct it.

A skylight filter has an orange or pink tint.



I use Adobe gamma to set my monitor but I am not sure mine is dead on and I am not paying for a hardware calibration tool.

[StanStan]

Its not very blue on my monitor Stan it does have a tint but , I could probably live with it. I get very blue. Printed out blue too.
Stan someone else said about the blue tint and said they used a skylight filter to correct it. Have a skylight filter but it's not a 55mm Need UV too
A skylight filter has an orange or pink tint.

I use Adobe gamma to set my monitor but I am not sure mine is dead on and I am not paying for a hardware calibration tool.

Will try that.

Thanks

Stan

[StanStan]

I don't have the FZ30, but one thing I tend to do when I am having White balance problems is I set the manual white balance to the location that is having problems. Since snow is white (or gray in the shade), what happens if you set the white balance right onto the blue area?

I am guessing that perhaps it would remove too much blue from the image, but I would probably give it a try.

I find that snowy scenes are not the easiest to shoot. I have a heck of a time with the coloring with my FZ15. In my case it isn't consistently blue, but it does seem to be white balance related. The best shots always come out when there is a nice deep blue sky in the picture. I find a polarizer helps me out sometimes too by cutting some glare (when that is a factor).

Erik

Here's the result of setting WB on the blue area. No pp except size. My screen shows some yellow but easy PP'ed. Blue is now grey! I never thought of setting the WB from the blue. Great hint! Easy to do.


http://static.flickr.com/41/75636082_aa87a659e8_o.jpg

Thanks again

Stan

[StanStan]

I wish to thank all the posters that answered my "BLUE" problem question.

Took a lot of new pictures and some of the last ones came out great.
I.E. No "BLUE"

Thanks Again

Stan

Was :confused: 'blue' . Now :)

[genece]

Maybe your eyes are blue or you had in the wrong contacts Stan. :D

I had a bunch of FZ10 pictures of squirrels in the snow, Stan, that were very blue.
After spending several days at the retouching forum at dpreview, learning how to correct them...it hardly ever happened again.
Does that make sense?
Well at least I know how to do it when necessary...:cool:

[StanStan]

Maybe your eyes are blue or you had in the wrong contacts Stan. :D

I had a bunch of FZ10 pictures of squirrels in the snow, Stan, that were very blue.
After spending several days at the retouching forum at dpreview, learning how to correct them...it hardly ever happened again.
Does that make sense?
Well at least I know how to do it when necessary...:cool:

My glasses are READING glasses and do not dare to ask me my age. No tint. Driving glasses are photogrey's. Need new brain cells. Have some for sale?

I took pics of squirrels yesterday climbing up a trunk and looked great. [TCON 17] 60 to 100 feet away. No blue. Have to do some sharpening as they were moving. Trunks were in sharp focus even when panning slowly.

Got 'blue ' yesterday and more 'blue" today. The set WB on the blue area seems to work fine and now get gray! [thanks to emalvick] Took a few more and was satisfied with the result. The WB adjust red/blue just did not do the job correctly. Did not come out grey.
The resolution is much better on the LCD monitor. Can see the blue/gray changing.

Have to get used to the new bells and whistles of the FZ30.

Stan

[StanStan]

http://static.flickr.com/9/75662934_78990b3806_o.jpg
This is the result of setting the White Balance on the area of snow in the shadows. Tracks of my resident bear about 4 days ago. Picture a few minutes ago.

Stan

[ktixx]

ID10t is just a joke way of saying user error (ID10t = IDIOT) it was just a playful way of saying that you should probably check the WB settings, as we have all made that mistake at one point. Setting the WB to the "blue" snow certainly took away that blue tone. The colors look much better now
Ken

[emalvick]

Here's the result of setting WB on the blue area. No pp except size. My screen shows some yellow but easy PP'ed. Blue is now grey! I never thought of setting the WB from the blue. Great hint! Easy to do.

Thanks again

Stan

You're welcome... I find that I am using that manual setting all the time in many situations, especially indoors. I liked the auto wb at first, but it has really thrown me off at times, and I am not confident of the presets. I now care a 3 x 5 card in my bag and use it to set wb, and in situations like yours, I often set wb on what I think should be white or gray, such as the snow.

I also find Photoshop to be quite useful in correcting bad wb on an otherwise great photo. I use the curves and set the white point or gray point as needed, tweaking the white balance until just right.

By the way, I actually kind of liked the blue snow (I did see the blue you were complaining about), but my mind didn't see anything necessarily wrong with it. Of course, I love to paint in watercolor and I often use blue and purple for shadows.

Keep up the good work.... I might try to see what happens by setting the wb to obviously non-white points to create a more abstract image. I've always thought of trying it, but now I'm inspired to actually do it.

Erik

[StanStan]

You're welcome... I find that I am using that manual setting all the time in many situations, especially indoors. I liked the auto wb at first, but it has really thrown me off at times, and I am not confident of the presets. I now care a 3 x 5 card in my bag and use it to set wb, and in situations like yours, I often set wb on what I think should be white or gray, such as the snow.

I also find Photoshop to be quite useful in correcting bad wb on an otherwise great photo. I use the curves and set the white point or gray point as needed, tweaking the white balance until just right.

By the way, I actually kind of liked the blue snow (I did see the blue you were complaining about), but my mind didn't see anything necessarily wrong with it. Of course, I love to paint in watercolor and I often use blue and purple for shadows.

Keep up the good work.... I might try to see what happens by setting the wb to obviously non-white points to create a more abstract image. I've always thought of trying it, but now I'm inspired to actually do it.

Erik

I am not much of an artist and like to see the colors as 'real'. Like WYSIWYP [P-rint]. Must widen my horizon. Have PS elements 2 but have not gotten into curves and white/gray points. Will have to look at the PSE2 'help'

Thanks

Stan

[lincoln30]

http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,119517,00.asp

The above should help you with your blue problem.

[valleykayaker]

This is in relation to white balancing on the shady part of the snow, which naturally has a blue cast. Go to Lowe's or HomeDepot and, in the paint department, find a color sample of a pale blue. When you are out in the field hold this in front of the lens (it doesn't have to be in focus) and set your white balance off of it. You might want to try different shades of the blues depending on how strong the effect you want is. The other pics you posted looked right on. ;)

[StanStan]

http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,119517,00.asp

The above should help you with your blue problem.

I just looked at the article and noticed the eyedropper tip. Will have to try that on the pictures already taken

Thanks

Stan

[StanStan]

This is in relation to white balancing on the shady part of the snow, which naturally has a blue cast. Go to Lowe's or HomeDepot and, in the paint department, find a color sample of a pale blue. When you are out in the field hold this in front of the lens (it doesn't have to be in focus) and set your white balance off of it. You might want to try different shades of the blues depending on how strong the effect you want is. The other pics you posted looked right on. ;)

Below is a pic of 5 day old bear tracks taken yesterday. I'm getting closer to what I want. IE less blue. "Try Try again". Out in the field, in this case, means in my kitchen looking out the window. I do have a Sears Hardware nearby to try your tip!.

Just resized-no PP. White Balance 'set' on shadows. Quite natural coloring.

Thanks

Stan

http://static.flickr.com/9/75662934_78990b3806_o.jpg

[genece]

Stan a little tip on the eyedropper thing if you use the white eydropper or the black one you get prettymuch what auto color would have given you and at times that is correct .....But if there is a neutral gray color in the photo use the grey eyedropper it is extremely acurate but you need the correct shade of grey.

Some photographers include a gray card in a photo , to do the adjustment and then crop the card out.
One other thing do not use the white eyedropper on an area thats blown out or the black one on a area that clipped. The eyedropper can tell you where that has happened.

[StanStan]

Stan a little tip on the eyedropper thing if you use the white eyedropper or the black one you get pretty much what auto color would have given you and at times that is correct .....But if there is a neutral gray color in the photo use the grey eyedropper it is extremely accurate but you need the correct shade of grey.

Some photographers include a gray card in a photo , to do the adjustment and then crop the card out.
One other thing do not use the white eyedropper on an area thats blown out or the black one on a area that clipped. The eyedropper can tell you where that has happened.

Gene: Maybe I should dust off my Minolta SLR and take pictures with the right film and lighting and have them developed and printed. Seems so easy now.
But I will try the gray card crop thing. Just need the 18% [?] gray card.
I went into digital cams some years ago to be able to PP images. Now it's becoming sooo complex.
Thankx
Stan

[genece]

Stan it is a 18% grey card but I was only trying to help... take some photos and enjoy the FZ30..
One thing ..not all the settings you preferred on the FZ20 are necessarily the best on the FZ30.

And I know you may not like my settings , I just to point out the different settings that I use between the other FZ's.

I used spot focus on the FZ10 and 20 , but use 1 area fast focus on the FZ30

I used spot meter on the FZ10 and 20 but center weighted on the FZ30

I used a minus exposure on the other FZ's but no comp on the FZ30

And I do not know how many times I tried what other say are the settings that they like, only to find they do not work for me.

As I said before....I found settings that I liked with the other FZ's and am still working toward what may be the best on the FZ30.

Just yesterday I was noticing that the details of some photos were not what I remember from a month ago, so I set every setting back to what I remembered being what I liked and the detail is back...I am not sure what caused it , but it was a setting as I think maybe your blue problem may be.

Enjoy the camera it really will take great photos.

One other way to adjust the blue with elements is open the Hue and sat box choose blue and turn down the saturation in the blue box...Cyan mabe but it seemed blue to me.

[StanStan]

Stan it is a 18% grey card but I was only trying to help... take some photos and enjoy the FZ30..
One thing ..not all the settings you preferred on the FZ20 are necessarily the best on the FZ30.

And I know you may not like my settings , I just to point out the different settings that I use between the other FZ's.

I used spot focus on the FZ10 and 20 , but use 1 area fast focus on the FZ30

I used spot meter on the FZ10 and 20 but center weighted on the FZ30

I used a minus exposure on the other FZ's but no comp on the FZ30

And I do not know how many times I tried what other say are the settings that they like, only to find they do not work for me.

As I said before....I found settings that I liked with the other FZ's and am still working toward what may be the best on the FZ30.

Just yesterday I was noticing that the details of some photos were not what I remember from a month ago, so I set every setting back to what I remembered being what I liked and the detail is back...I am not sure what caused it , but it was a setting as I think maybe your blue problem may be.

Enjoy the camera it really will take great photos.

One other way to adjust the blue with elements is open the Hue and sat box choose blue and turn down the saturation in the blue box...Cyan maybe but it seemed blue to me.
I tried the eye dropper and paint bucket but did not like the results. Lost details!
Did try the Hue/saturation and color cast. Was able to tweak the color to what I liked. Have 'WB set 2' to my snow shadows. Seems to work fine now that I know how to use it.

Will try your settings. Passed over the High focus but you pointed it out.
Read the book again and try all the tips I received.
Thanks
Stan

[genece]

Just to confuse us both some more...As I said that original photo really looked OK on my monitor both in windows and Photoshop...It had a tint of blue but not bad.
When you said it printed blue..I really could not understand.
Just a while ago I opened that photo in Canon easy print as thats how I usually print and I did not even have to print it ...it was blue..now thats on the same monitor that it looked fine in windows and PS..... then I tried with some photos I took of birds and squirrels in the snow and they are fine both in windows,PS and Canon easy share.
Why would that be?

[StanStan]

Just to confuse us both some more...As I said that original photo really looked OK on my monitor both in windows and Photoshop...It had a tint of blue but not bad.
When you said it printed blue..I really could not understand.
Just a while ago I opened that photo in Canon easy print as thats how I usually print and I did not even have to print it ...it was blue..now thats on the same monitor that it looked fine in windows and PS..... then I tried with some photos I took of birds and squirrels in the snow and they are fine both in windows,PS and Canon easy share.
Why would that be?

I looked at the blue snow with: Flickr, PhotoShop Elements 2, Picasa 2, and Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. The intensity of the blue does vary. Maybe I should pick the program that more closely matches the printer output or maybe the printer output changes according to the program used. Just received my iP5000 and have it set up. Will try some test of programs and printer results.

Maybe I should set the monitor to PS elements 2 printer output. Might just get WYSIWYP [P-print]

Concept is very interesting.

Thanks Gene

Stan

[LoveLife]

I use manual WB and change my camera setting to reflect the lighting condition. When using the sunshine setting I always have my W/B set two clicks to warm or red. The camera remembers the setting so when I change to clouds or indoors the W/B goes back to neutral. The other setting that has served me well is an exposure bias of +2/3 My Fz10 was -1/3.. Tests conducted by a reviewer on another forum showed that the FZ30

Outdoor - Auto WB
Red -1.0%, Blue 0.6%
Excellent

If you are minus 1 % in red and plus .6% in blue I call that a blue bias.
He called it excellent I call it fair to good.

Have a happy holiday Yuleall!

http://lovelife.smugmug.com/photos/47345315-L.jpg

[Bill Markwick]

Received my new FZ30 and the sun is shining so I took some pics of snow of which I have a lot. Had 14" but some melted..

The pictures turned out very blue. Picture shown is taken in 'P' mode. The ones taken in 'Snow' scene are almost as blue. Very disappointed!!
Will have to play with white balance adjust. Then PP?


I'm using my own computer and it has a monitor I trust. There's a blue cast on your image, but it isn't excessive. Besides, there seems to be a fair amount of shadow in the image, and all shadows on snow tend to be very blue. The Cloudy setting will correct for this, although I find I still have to tweak the white balance on my FZ20.

Regards,
Bill

[StanStan]

I'm using my own computer and it has a monitor I trust. There's a blue cast on your image, but it isn't excessive. Besides, there seems to be a fair amount of shadow in the image, and all shadows on snow tend to be very blue. The Cloudy setting will correct for this, although I find I still have to tweak the white balance on my FZ20.

Regards,
Bill

My FZ30 handles WB in a different manner than my FZ20. Having trouble with WB '30. Never seems to be quite right. Took a picture of large Japanese Silk paintings on my living room wall that turned out with a yellow/green cast instead of a light tan. I'm glad this is a digital camera as I take lots of pictures at no extra cost.

Just received a Canon iP5000 printer that does an excellent job of printing. I took a picture of Kodak's Color Evaluation Target and adjusted monitor to the printout. Eureka! Now my prints a extremely close to the monitor. Was in the habit of trying to adjust the printing to the monitor. Was never really happy with the results. Then downloaded the target, printed it out, adjusted monitor to target printout and now the monitor/print are almost a perfect match all the time. Too critical with the new toys.

WB on '30 is different than on '20. Practice makes perfect.

The blue snow turned out quite blue when printed. I set the WB to the shadows then took the picture. Much better. Shadows turn out light gray now. Will have to try that white and gray card WB setting. Have white but no 18% gray.

Thanks

Stan

[StanStan]

I use manual WB and change my camera setting to reflect the lighting condition. When using the sunshine setting I always have my W/B set two clicks to warm or red. The camera remembers the setting so when I change to clouds or indoors the W/B goes back to neutral. The other setting that has served me well is an exposure bias of +2/3.
Have a happy holiday Yuleall!

Have yet to figure out when the WB set is remembered or not. I have the FZ30 on 3 to the red most of the time now. With the FZ20 I kept exposure to -1/3 or -2/3. I note the exposure for the '30 should be set to the plus side. You reinforced my findings. I still have trouble with the preset WB for the scene modes.

In your posted picture the shadows are quite blue but a least the snow is bright white.

Put my TCON17 on the FZ30 and the pictures are quite extraordinarily sharp. Much better than the FZ20 and TCON 17 combo.

Thanks for the tips and your response.

Stan

[LoveLife]

Received my new FZ30 and the sun is shining so I took some pics of snow of which I have a lot. Had 14" but some melted..

The pictures turned out very blue. Picture shown is taken in 'P' mode. The ones taken in 'Snow' scene are almost as blue. Very disappointed!!
Will have to play with white balance adjust. Then PP?

http://static.flickr.com/9/75586871_d905dd592c_o.jpg

Set the menu in Manual W/B for sunshine. Then set the upper jog button two click to the warm setting.

[StanStan]

Set the menu in Manual W/B for sunshine. Then set the upper jog button two click to the warm setting.

Simple enough.

I shall try that.

Thanks

Stan